Big Ten commissioner expects more autonomy

CHICAGO – Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said today that he expects the NCAA Division I board of directors to pass a proposed governance model that will give more autonomy to his league and the other four power conferences.

The DI board will vote Aug. 7 on a new governance structure proposed by an eight-member NCAA governance steering committee, which includes new Ohio State president Michael Drake and Wright State president David Hopkins.

“I do think it’ll pass and capture the autonomy issues that are important to us in assisting student-athletes in the 21st century in ways that make sense,” Delany said today in his speech concluding the first day of the Big Ten Football Media Days. “I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t pass.”

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told The Dispatch two weeks ago that he expects the DI board to approve the new governance structure and that he expects the five power conferences to immediately begin creating cost-of-attendance legislation that could be voted on in January at the NCAA annual convention.

If approved, a proposed weighted voting system would provide more autonomy to the 65 schools in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC on certain issues such as having the right to provide a stipend to help student-athletes meet the full cost of attendance.

Delany’s confidence in the upcoming vote by the DI board – which includes Drake, Hopkins and Ohio University president Roderick McDavis – was reflected in his lack of rhetoric about what might happen if the proposed governance structure isn’t approved.

“If it doesn’t (pass), I don’t really know what we’d do,” Delany said. “I expect there would probably be conversations within each conference, we’d huddle up, and then see where we're at.”

Delany offered no threat that the Big Ten and its fellow four power conferences would form its own division under the NCAA or break away altogether from the governing body of college sports.

Earlier this month, SEC commissioner Mike Slive said at his league’s football media days that if the five power conferences don’t get the autonomy they seek then “we will need to consider the establishment of a venue with similar conferences and institutions where we can enact the desired changes.”

Delany gave a more reserved message in his address at an event serving as the first official event with Maryland and Rutgers as new members of the Big Ten, each of those schools joining Ohio State in the new East Division.

Last week, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby warned that college sports is on the precipice of radical change and that fans “are going to hate it going forward.” He also said the NCAA enforcement if broken and that college athletics is headed down a path of significant financial difficulty that could threaten the future of some non-revenue sports at some schools.

“Bob was a little more colorful with his language. I’ll keep my words to what they are now,” Delany said.

Delany acknowledged the threats to the system of college sport, which include Big Ten private member Northwestern being granted the right to unionize and a litany of anti-trust litigation against the NCAA.

“We’re in a very dynamic period of time and transformation . . . I don’t know where all of this ends up. I think it’ll be a number of years before it all comes clear,” Delany said.

A federal judge in California is expected in early August to make her ruling in the Ed O’Bannon class-action lawsuit against the NCAA regarding the use of players’ likenesses. That trial, in which Delany testified for the defense, ended June 27. An appeal is expected no matter the upcoming ruling.

Northwestern football players voted in the spring on whether or not to form a union, a right granted to them earlier this year by the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board. The university has appealed that decision to the national NRLB office.

A timetable on the appeal ruling is unknown. No matter the outcome, Ohio State won’t be affected because it’s a public university and falls under the jurisdiction of state labor laws.

“I don’t think anything inevitable,” Delany said when about the union issue. “I think the first thing I’d say is it happened at Northwestern, which was surprising, but not shocking. It’ll get resolved pursuant to the law and pursuant to the players.

“Whether or not it has legs for other (schools) around the country, that’s hard to predict or project. From the outside, these matters in labor are state-by-state issues, especially for public institutions.”

Delany did not follow-up Bowlsby’s suggestion about the rules enforcement system being broken with equally-strong opinions. The Big Ten commissioner, however, did say a new enforcement system was needed and hoped one could be in place in the next 18 months.

Delany said the Big Ten negotiations for the league’s new national TV deal haven’t started, but the league has been preparing for those talks in earnest with the current contract set to expire at the end of 2016.

As for the other dynamic issues threatening change to college sports, Delany reiterated his belief that the benefits of athletics being integrated with academics outweighs the cries of those calling for an entirely new system.

“I certainly hope when the dust settles there will be a wide array of education and athletics opportunities for many men and women,” Delany said. “I hope at the end of the day the courts will support us in achieving them. College sports is a great American tradition. It’s not a perfect enterprise. No perfect enterprise exists. We can improve it, and we should.”